BMW 330I vs Mercury Cougar

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	BMW 330I	Mercury Cougar
Complaints on file	1,076	2,646
Model years covered	2001–2025	1962–2002
Worst model year	2006	1999
Best model year	2005	1997
Crashes reported	42	173
Fires reported	52	94
Injuries reported	35	129
Deaths reported	3	6
Most complained-about part	Airbags	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	12.3%	15.2%

BMW 330I by year

159 57 92 139 42 303 55 39 56 67 44 6 4 9 4

01 02 03 04 05 06 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 259 24.1%

Lights 162 15.1%

Electrical System 131 12.2%

Engine & Cooling 130 12.1%

Other & Unspecified 60 5.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 45 4.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 33 3.1%

Steering 32 3.0%

Mercury Cougar by year

1 3 2 3 2 2 25 22 20 49 72 104 104 98 122 236 178 160 77 112 1 740 283 103 127

62 73 78 80 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 450 17.0%

Electrical System 342 12.9%

Brakes 299 11.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 238 9.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 177 6.7%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 164 6.2%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 141 5.3%

Lights 136 5.1%